My plan for Monday was to head for Fife. I had arranged to meet Susan after 1600 to collect a book from her, so it made sense to spend the day in the county. There were 2 prospective main targets - Snow Bunting at Out Head, St Andrews and a Greenland White Fronted Goose at Mountcastle Quarry. In addition, there was a possibility of White Tailed Eagle putting in an appearance while I was hunting for the Bunting. However, the times of the buses which required the least amount of walking were not particularly handy, so I was undecided as to where to go first until I actually left the house.
Snow Bunting
I headed out at just after 0805 to head for the bus station. A bus to Pitlessie would mean a wander to Letham Pools with a stop at the Wilderness en route. If I went to St Andrews I would hopefully find the beach quieter than it would be later in the day. Magpie, Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull and my local House Sparrows were first onto the list, followed by Goldfinch and Woodpigeon. Blackbird and Blue Tit were added near the bus station. As there was a bus to St Andrews about to leave I decided to take that one. Out Head would be my first stop.
From the bus I noted Carrion Crows, Oystercatchers, Rook, Pheasant, Jackdaw, Starling and Buzzard and best of all a Peregrine heading over the bus eastwards as we were arriving in St Andrews. I've seen the bird leaving its roost spot around this time of morning previously so it certainly appears to have a 'routine'. I cut across the golf course as a Grey Heron lumbered over. The sea was like a mirror with a bit of haze offshore meaning that it was difficult to see where the water ended and the sky began. I chose not to waste any time by hunting through the sea ducks.
It was a lovely, unseasonably warm morning. A Meadow Pipit dropped onto a fence post ahead of me. A pair of Pied Wagtails offered a spot of distraction from the walk by parading around on the pavement nearby. A trio of Woodpigeons picked around on the grass. A male Reed Bunting sang from a fence post further on. A small flock of Linnets flew overhead. Starlings did likewise and a few Rooks flew past. Oystercatchers were feeding over on the golf course. A quick look over the dunes saw an Eider fly along the edge of the beach. A male Stonechat was seen perched on the vegetation in the fenced off section of the dunes and a female showed a bit closer to the fence.
Another Reed Bunting gave even better views before a skein of Pink Footed Geese winged their way over. I managed to pick out the first singing Skylark of the day as I neared the two small sheep paddocks. There were a few more of the birds in among the grass. A pair of Curlews flew off as I got closer to where they were feeding before I headed down through the dunes to the beach to check through the strand-line debris for my main target bird. A bird picking around ahead of me looked promising when I could only glimpse parts of the head but turned out to be a Skylark. Common Gull, Cormorant and Great Black Backed Gull were added but there was no sign of the Snow Bunting.
As things were so quiet and still I was able to hear a Green Woodpecker yaffling from the Reres Wood area across the river. I wandered further down the beach where a small group of Sanderling were scurrying along the water's edge. Offshore were a few Eiders sedately drifting along. A drake Long Tailed Duck was a bit further away. I could see distant waders including Dunlin out across the river. I headed back up the beach and spooked 2 birds from among the detritus on the sand. I chose to check them out with the binoculars rather than grab for the camera. One of them had a lot of white on the wings but wasn't a Linnet. My hoped for target bird - a Snow Bunting. I wasn't able to get a good look at the second bird but it was noticeably less white and wasn't a Linnet. I sat down at the edge of the dunes in the hope they would return to where they'd been feeding.
A female or immature Scaup drifted upriver and a drake Red Breasted Merganser was noted before I had another short walk to try and find the bunting again. I accidentaly spooked a few Linnets before I eventually found the Snow Bunting foraging ahead of me on the beach. I lay down on the beach and waited to see if it would continue towards me, which it did, giving me good views and the opportunity to get some video and photos. It eventually got to around 20 feet before a dog walker with 3 dogs which ran over to check me out, ensured it flew off. It then took a while to relocate the bird again. A Rock Pipit fed nearby and I let the bird come towards me again.
This resulted in even closer views before the bird decided to fly off again. I refound the bird perched beside a Pied Wagtail on a log at the tip of Out Head. Unfortunately, a countryside ranger who was doing a litter clean-up along with 2 spaniels ensured the bird didn't linger and it flew off back to where I'd seen it earlier though I was able to see where it landed. Again I managed to get ahead of the bird and sat patiently waiting in the sunshine. Another birder appeared and I was able to indicate where the bird was, on the slope up to the dunes. I was joined by the other birder who turned out to be Sam Taylor who I've met before a few years ago and who is another of Fife's contingent of very good birders.
The approach of the spaniels ensured the Bunting flew further down the beach so we positioned ourselves ahead of the bird and waited. This time the bird showed down to around 15 feet before deciding that 2 humans lying on the beach were just too much of a worry to get any closer to and off it flew again. While we'd been watching the bird we heard what sounded like a second bird - which might mean the second bird I'd seen earlier was a 1st winter bird. I heard the croak of a Raven from across the river and was able to see the bird in flight over Reres Wood. Sam and I had a leisurely wander back round the beach, seeing the Snow Bunting again as well as Pied Wagtail and Skylark as well as more Pink Footed Geese.
Sam offered me a lift back to St Andrews but with time to kill before meeting up with Susan I chose to walk the almost 2 miles back to St Andrews instead. I had decent photo opportunities with Starlings and Rooks in particular and had a very brief look out into the bay where I added a Guillemot and numerous Common Scoters. There were lots of Fulmars spread out along the cliffs behind me. With still around an hour to go before I would need to catch a bus to Cupar I decided to head for Guardbridge to spend some time in the hide. A Robin sang from the trees as I headed in, and a female Bullfinch was seen in the trees behind the hide. A couple of birders were just leaving and another birder left very soon after I arrived leaving Angus Duncan and myself.
Most of the birds were quite distant but I was able to add Black Tailed Godwit, Redshank, Goldeneye, a pair of Whooper Swans, Tree Sparrows around the feeders and a pair of Collared Doves on the bird-table. Distant Dunlin, Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Shelduck were seen in addition to Black Headed Gull and Lesser Black Backed Gulls in the gull roost. Chaffinch were noted at the feeders before I headed off to catch the bus to meet Susan in Cupar. A couple of Rabbits were seen from the bus but things were otherwise quiet. I met Susan and after a short chat we decided to make the most of the remaining daylight and to visit Letham Pools and Mountcastle Quarry.
Letham Pools was relatively busy with birds and we were able to add a number of waterfowl to the list - Shoveler, Coot, Goosander, Gadwall, Little Grebe and Moorhen. The light was beginning to go as we headed round to Mountcastle in the hope of finding the Greenland White Fronted Goose which had been seen recently. Coal Tit and Great Tit were in the trees near the entrance while Wigeon and Tufted Duck were numerous on the pools. We could see some geese but not particularly well and the light was getting gloomier by the minute. We wandered round a track for a better look finding Greylags nearby and Pink Footed Geese further away. Unfortunately it was clear there were geese
down in a dip and half-hidden behind trees. Despite checking every goose we could see we drew a blank on the hoped for White Front. We called it a day at just after 1730 and headed for home.
All in all a pretty productive day in rather nice and very unseasonal weather with a
total of 66 species seen with 1 year tick among them (in bold) and some
nice photos among the plentiful photo opportunities at Out Head and the West sands and also a couple of video clips taken of the Snow Bunting.
Woodpigeon
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Pied Wagtail
House Sparrow
Carrion Crow
Oystercatcher
Reed Bunting
Stonechat
Pink Footed Goose
Reed Bunting
Curlew
Pied Wagtail
Long Tailed Duck
Sanderling
Eider
Scaup
Linnet
Curlew
Snow Bunting & Pied Wagtail
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Rock Pipit
Rock Pipit
Pink Footed Goose
Long Tailed Duck
Rock Pipit
Pied Wagtail & Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting
Raven
Common Gull
Snow Bunting
Starling
Carrion Crow
Skylark
Starling
Starling
Starling
Skylark
Skylark
Skylark
Herring Gull
Rook
Rook
Rook
Guillemot
Common Scoter
Common Scoter
Grey Heron
Herring Gull
Jackdaw
Redshank
Black Tailed Godwit
Goldeneye
Buzzard
Whooper Swan
Whooper Swan
Wigeon
Whooper Swan
Pink Footed Goose & Greylag Goose
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black backed Gull, Linnet, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Raven, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Sanderling, Scaup, Shelduck, Shoveler, Skylark, Snow Bunting, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
